


Gilbert Blythe is Surprised

by Rozmund



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Brotherly advice, F/M, First Kiss, little sisters causing trouble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 14:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21254591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rozmund/pseuds/Rozmund
Summary: Bash decides that Gilbert needs some advice, and Minnie May decides to spill the beans. :) Set after Season 3, episode 6, this is how I would clean up the Gilbert/Anne/Winnie mess after the fair and Billy's awful actions. I mostly skip over the aftermath of Billy and the newspaper because it would have taken me ages to sort it out.





	1. Adjusted Relationships

_Saturday, after the fair…_

“It was a lovely day. Thank you for inviting us, again.” Winnie was gracious and lovely as always, never forgetting an opportunity for a nice compliment.

“It was, and you’re welcome,” Gilbert replied, somewhat absentmindedly. He continued peering at the medical text and scribbling, although if he was being honest with himself his current task wasn’t that important. The entire week had been a jumble of confusion and he hadn’t settled any of it before he got back to Charlottetown. When Winnie showed up unexpectedly at the library where was studying, he realized with a start that he wasn’t actually very happy to see her. Her bright “hello” had interrupted his imagined conversation with Anne, which he hoped would fix whatever was going on between them.

Ever since that awful day with Billy, Anne had barely spoken to him. He complimented her eloquent, impassioned (of course) article, and thankfully she accepted it without throwing any further venom his way. After that day, though, Anne seemed like a shadow of herself. When Gilbert stopped by her house, Anne was nowhere to be found. When Anne came over to help with Dellie, she somehow managed to stay outside when he was in, and inside when he was out. At school she was buried in activities and mysteriously disappeared the moment school was out. Worst of all, when he did manage to talk to her, she was as polite and subdued as any other Avonlea schoolgirl, and it scared the hell out of him.

He could handle her fits of temper, her shocking outbursts, her righteous indignation, and her penchant for saying things that no other well-bred Avonlea girl would ever say. He missed all of those things desperately. If she would only yell at him, or go into raptures about a ladybug, or tell him that she forgot to eat for a day while she memorized a new poem, then he’d know that she was okay and their friendship was okay. But this quiet, lifeless Anne wasn’t his friend. He wanted to talk to her, really talk to her, so badly, but he couldn’t get close enough to her to find out what was wrong. She seemed lively enough with everyone else, but she barely looked in his direction except to give a noncommittal nod of her head. Even Bash had noticed and asked if they had fought.

“It looks like you’re busy?” Winnie asked, and for a moment Gilbert wondered if she had said something and he missed it entirely.

“I am,” he stammered, unable to think of a better response.

“I’ll leave you to it, then. I trust you are still available for dinner to discuss school with my father?”

“Of course,” he answered, pasting a smile on his face. As Winnie turned to go, he gathered up his courage and continued. “Can we talk about something before you go?”

. . .

_One day earlier…_

Bash tried as hard as he could to hold his tongue. He had enough problems of his own without adding someone else’s, and Blythe was still a boy, even if he thought he was grown. It was a good time for him to learn a thing or two on his own, even though the boy seemed to be making a mess of things lately.

As he watched Anne rush out of the house, though, he decided it might be time to give the boy some brotherly guidance. Anne had been in the kitchen with Bash, chatting happily and bouncing baby Dellie on her knee until Gilbert showed up. Then she said something about a pie in the oven (she had been watching Dellie for the past four hours so it had to be the most overbaked pie in Canada), and hurried out the door as fast as her feet would carry her. He couldn’t be certain, but Bash thought he saw tears welling in her eyes as she left. He looked up at Gilbert, who was holding his traveling valise in one hand and his good suit in another.

“I should have tried to catch her before she left,” Gilbert said. “She’s probably much handier at fixing hems than I am, and this one is loose. Not that she’ll talk to me enough to ask, these days,” he finished sadly.

“You’re wearing that suit to dinner with Miss Rose and her family?” Bash asked.

“Yes.”

“And you were going to ask _Anne_ to help you fix it.”

“Um…I guess?”

Bash raked a hand over his face and wondered if Blythe was actually copying Anne’s homework to get those good grades, because he was clearly an idiot.

He rather thought Anne should come back here and give the boy another slate to the head, but without that easy solution available, Bash decided to try giving him a gentle nudge and see if he could figure out the rest for himself. If he didn’t straighten out soon, though, Bash would have to consider the slate to the head before Blythe did any permanent damage.

“Lemme ask you, what do you think her father is going to ask during this…dinner?”

“It’s about school.”

Bash nodded slowly. “Okay, but what does this man expect out of you in order to help with school?”

Gilbert’s eyes darted around as he considered the question. “I dunno, I don’t think he expects anything.”

“Blythe, any man with some kinda power isn’t usually generous for no reason, trust me.” Not for the first time, Bash hoped that Blythe and Dellie would never learn some ugly realities of life that he had seen firsthand. The Roses seemed nice enough, though. Bash leaned forward in his seat. “And I heard what he said about your future together.”

Gilbert shifted uncomfortably, trying not to remember how he had used those exact words in a very different conversation. “You heard Winnie. She didn’t want to talk about anything like that.”

“But her father does. Before you go indebting yourself to his man, I think you had better find out if he intends to help you only because he thinks you will be his son-in-law.” Bash noted, with no small satisfaction, Gilbert’s look of blind panic at the word ‘son-in-law.’ “And if he does, do you want to be his son-in-law?”

“I already told you it’s too early to be thinking of any of those things! I’m too young!” Gilbert exclaimed.

“And yet just a few days ago you were asking me if you should marry a girl you are attracted to, so evidently you have thought about it.”

Gilbert opened his mouth but no sound came out.

“I’m only saying, before Miss Rose and her family give you all this help, you might want to make your intentions clear so they don’t think you’re misleading them, or worse, that you feel obligated to do something later that you don’t want.” Bash stood to take Dellie to her crib. “One more thing, while you’re thinking about your intentions. In my experience, even if it’s too soon or you’re too young, when you’re with a girl you could come to love, the thought of marrying her one day gives you a thrill, even if you have to wait five years to grow up and do it. You can’t wait for the day when she’ll be yours.”

Bash left Gilbert sitting at the table, thoughtfully fingering his loose hem.

. . .

_Back to Saturday…_

“Sure,” Winnie replied, her brow wrinkling slightly.

“Um, I know that your father had mentioned…the future…when we were at the fair.” Gilbert was staring hard at the ground as he started this uncomfortable discussion, missing Winnie’s look of alarm. “We haven’t talked about that kind of thing before, so I thought I should be honest in case I gave them, or, or you the wrong, um, impression.” _Get a grip, you sound ridiculous_, he fairly shouted at himself.

Winnie observed his scarlet face and downcast eyes and took pity on the young man. “Gilbert, if I wanted to talk about the future, I would have done it. I enjoy our friendship just as it is, right now.”

Gilbert breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad, because I enjoy our friendship too. I don’t know what the future of our friendship will be, though, so I hope that doesn’t upset you.”

Winnie smiled gently. “I don’t know what it is either, and no, it doesn’t upset me. I am not looking for anything like marriage right now, anyway.”

“You’re not?” That surprised him, considering that she was older than him and plenty of Avonlea girls married at her age. “Are you sure your father knows that?”

“I find it easier not to mention that to him,” she laughed.

“I do feel like we should be clear with him before we discuss La Sorbonne. I’d rather not disappoint him at an inopportune time.”

Winnie patted his hand briefly. “I’ll make it sound like it’s my fault, don’t worry. I won’t let him punish you just because I have more interest in fairs than marriage right now.”


	2. Mutual Confidences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minnie May causes mischief and Diana straightens things out.

_A few days later…_

Gilbert knocked nervously on the Barry’s door, then straightened his hat for the thousandth time. He didn’t know if he’d be able to go to La Sorbonne now that Mr. Rose knew he probably wouldn’t be family, but no matter what he needed to make sure that his real family was cared for, and this business venture was critical for all of them.

Mr. Barry graciously opened the door and ushered him inside to the ornate parlor, bidding him to sit on a beautiful (and painfully uncomfortable) divan. He was beginning to wonder if rich people really hated sitting, for all their furniture was so unforgiving.

Gilbert rose again as Mrs. Barry, Diana, and Minnie May entered the parlor, the girls giving him formal curtseys as their mother nodded approvingly.

“I trust your walk over was pleasant,” Diana began, doing her best to play the consummate hostess.

Minnie May stared at him searchingly, until Gilbert began to wonder what he had done to wrong to offend this tiny girl before they had even spoken. Diana gave her a nudge so she said, “You’re Gilbert?” He nodded. “Hm.” That was it. She finally mumbled “pleased to meet you” after a glare from her mother.

Dinner continued with the usual pleasantries, and Gilbert felt confident that he might actually have a good outcome from the evening.

Then, just as Mr. Barry disappeared to bring Gilbert a book and Mrs. Barry left to gather dessert, it happened. Minnie May, who had barely spoken all evening but sized him up with a shrewish stare that would put Mrs. Lynde to shame, finally said her piece.

“I’m very sorry, but I might have to tell Anne that she should not have a crush on you. Diana read me Pride & Prejudice, and after tonight I simply cannot think that you compare to Mr. Darcy.”

Gilbert wondered if it was possible for an 18-year-old to have a stroke, and the part of his brain that could still manage a coherent thought wanted to ask Dr. Ward. He barely registered Diana’s horrified gasp as he gawked at Minnie May.

“See?” Minnie May continued. “I think a proper romantic would have said something elegant about Anne by now.”

Diana nearly upended her tableware as she lunged for her sister. “It is taking Mother so long; she must need help.” She rushed Minnie May into the kitchen, casting terrified glances back at Gilbert.

He sat numbly and stared at the table, hardly daring to believe that Minnie May was saying what he hoped she was saying and wondering just what on earth he would do if Minnie May was right. He could hear Diana’s furious whispers from the hall, followed by Minnie May hotly retorting –

“I don’t see why he shouldn’t know. If he wants to be her destiny, I think he’s going to need help because he’s making a hash of Mr. Darcy now.”

Gilbert couldn’t help himself and laughed. Considering their penchant for shocking outbursts, he wondered if perhaps God had played some odd joke and Minnie May and Anne were in fact the real sisters.

“Heaven help us all, there’s two of them in Avonlea,” he said softly.

His head shot up as Diana reentered the dining room with dessert, followed shortly by her father with the book.

“Where are your mother and Minnie May?” Mr. Barry asked.

“They needed to discuss something,” she responded tersely. Mr. Barry, well acquainted with the frequency of lectures his younger daughter received about her less than ladylike manners, wisely decided not to press further.

As soon as Mr. Barry settled back into his seat, Diana launched into a long series of questions to her father about their upcoming trip to Paris while Gilbert recovered his wits. Gilbert was almost certain that she was trying to buy him some time on purpose, and he smiled at her gratefully. They had never been close, but he could see in this moment exactly why she was Anne’s best friend.

“Well, but we’re leaving out poor Gilbert,” Mr. Barry finally interjected, turning back to him. “Where did you travel during your time away?”

Just then, Mrs. Barry returned with Minnie May, looking positively mutinous, trailing behind her. Minnie May continued to cast her critical eye at Gilbert but said nothing more.

By some miracle, Gilbert thought he made it through the rest of the evening without completely embarrassing himself in his current state of shock. For the life of him, though, he would never remember a word he said to the Barrys at the table that night after Minnie May’s announcement.

Finally, just as they were preparing to end the evening, Diana stood. “Father, may Gilbert and I be excused for a moment? I am trying to finish my essay and I could use his opinion.”

“Of course,” her father nodded generously. “It is always good for students to help each other.”

Diana ushered him down the hall to the sitting room where she kept her books, opening a couple and shuffling around the pages of her essay as the door swung shut behind them.

“You can never, never tell Anne what you heard here tonight. Please forget about it. If Anne ever finds out, she will be so mortified she will stop coming to school for a month. You know how she is.” Gilbert had to smile at that. Diana knew her best friend very well.

“She really…she really meant that she had…feelings for me? This wasn’t one of her imaginative flights of fancy or a very passionate declaration of friendship? She could write a heart-wrenching poem about a leaf.”

Diana eyed him suspiciously. “Why does it matter when you’re already courting?”

Gilbert huffed in frustration. “I’m not! Winnie and I have a clear understanding that we are friends only. I didn’t tell everyone that we were courting but they assumed!”

Diana’s suspicious face turned incredulous. “You brought a girl to the fair, with her parents, from 30 miles away, all dressed up, and you didn’t think people would assume you were courting?!”

“No, I didn’t really think about it.”

Diana muttered something under her breath that sounded an awful lot like “boys are so stupid.” She took a deep breath. “Fine, I will tell you, but you must promise me that Anne will never get hurt because of this, or I guarantee you that I will punish you in ways you can’t even imagine.” Diana might be all sweetness every other day of her life, but in that moment, Gilbert believed completely that she meant every word and would make good on a very painful punishment. He nodded slowly.

“Yes, she really meant exactly that.”

“But the way she’s been acting lately, how do you know she hasn’t changed her mind?” he asked, sounding more desperate than he would have liked.

Diana caught the slight waver in his voice and softened. “She’s not going to change her mind.”

“How are you so sure?” Diana clearly had no doubts about his feelings now, so there was no point in hiding it.

“Do you remember the letter you sent from Trinidad?” Gilbert nodded, confused. “Well, I tried to get her to give it to Ruby to cry over.” Gilbert laughed out loud at that image, and he and Diana exchanged knowing grins. “Anyway, Anne wouldn’t let me, and a few weeks later I found it tucked away in our hiding spot in the woods, looking like it had been read a thousand times. Plus, I’m certain she would have responded to your letter in time, even if she insisted it was only to correct your spelling.”

Gilbert bit the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning too hard. So his plan worked after all.

“She also remembered the exact word you misspelled when you competed against her a year earlier. She helps with Delly, she invites your family to dinner, she made Mary’s recipe book. She doesn’t visit all the other boys in class and help their families, and she’d use a letter from Charlie Sloane for kindling. It’s only you, and it’s been only you for a long time.”

Gilbert looked at her in wonder, hardly daring to believe that it was all true.

“I think she would have done something about it, too, but that was the day of the fair,” she said pointedly.

Gilbert’s eyes widened in horror. “So now she thinks that Winnie and I are –“

Diana looked back at him with the well-practiced disdain of a 16-year-old girl and murmured, “so, so stupid.” She didn’t bother being quiet that time.

Diana’s mother entered briskly just then, and Diana swiftly scribbled something with the pen in her hand. _When had she gotten that_, Gilbert wondered. Diana was clearly well practiced at fooling her mother.

“I agree, I’ll keep the essay focused on Canadian explorers. I admire how they took risks,” she said with an almost imperceptible wink.

They all shuffled back to the hallway and said their goodbyes, but Diana stopped him for a second on his way out the door. “If you plan to do something about this, might I suggest you pick her some flowers and make sure she doesn’t have any objects in her hand before you talk to her? She’s been crying herself to sleep every night over you and she may want to kill you first before she forgives you.” She gave him a hopeful smile. “We both know she’ll forgive you.”


	3. Love Takes Up the Glass of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gilbert can't wait another day to talk to Anne.

Gilbert’s heart raced the entire way home. He felt rather as if he had inherited a fortune after years of hardship and had no idea how he was going to spend it. Then there was the small matter that he had unknowingly broken Anne’s heart. Apparently, he should have done a bit more thinking about the rules of courtship before his friendship with Winnie, but what did he know about girls? Besides, he reasoned, the only girl he needed to worry about from now on was Anne, and she was like no other girl in the world.

He was still full of restless energy when he arrived home and he hadn’t nearly decided what to do about talking to Anne. Bash found him downstairs a few minutes later, still pacing.

“Did something go wrong at the dinner?” Bash asked, concerned about Gilbert’s uncharacteristic frenzy.

“No, everything is fine with Mr. Barry,” Gilbert answered, brushing away the question with a wave of his hand. He’d nearly forgotten the actual purpose of the dinner by the time he arrived home.

“Okay,” Bash said slowly, wondering if Blythe was in need of another piece of brotherly advice. He hated to become a mother hen but he also didn’t want to listen to the boy’s boots clunking over the floor all night.

“It’s Anne, she – I need to talk to her. She thinks I’m courting Winnie.” Finally, Gilbert stopped pacing and his face hardened in resolve.

“You _just_ realized this at dinner?” Even as Bash was asking the question, Gilbert was reaching for the kerosene lamp.

“Yes, I have to go right now!”

“Wait, are you about to go to the Cuthbert’s _now_?” It was far too late at night for a polite neighborly visit.

“I’ll lose my nerve if I don’t and I’ve already messed up so I don’t think I could make it worse!” Gilbert was already out the door and down the steps.

Bash watched him hurry frantically into the night, a slow grin spreading across his face. It might be that young Blythe had finally figured things out, after all.

. . .

Gilbert paused at the Cuthbert’s fence, struggling to catch his breath. He thought he saw a figure in the window, so he couldn’t linger any longer without causing suspicion.

The front door opened even before he had reached the porch, confirming that someone had in fact seen him coming up the lane. Marilla’s face was full of concern as she swiftly ushered him into the kitchen, and Gilbert noticed that Matthew was seated at the table, watching him wordlessly. Anne was nowhere to be found.

“I’m very sorry to bother you so late,” he started, rushing his words as his nerves overtook him. He took a deep breath to steady himself. “I need to talk to Anne.”

Marilla’s eyes widened. “It can’t wait until morning? Whatever is the matter?”

“I’m very sorry and it won’t take long, but it can’t wait.” Marilla and Matthew exchanged looks that Gilbert couldn’t decipher, and Matthew rose from the table and left. Marilla said nothing but wasn’t trying very hard to hide her displeasure. Gilbert felt his resolve waver slightly under her examination, but it was far too late to turn back now.

Anne appeared in the doorway, a shawl pulled tightly around her nightdress and her hair tied loosely with a ribbon. She looked gorgeous, and it was far easier to remember why he was here once he saw her pale face. She also didn’t look very happy to see him, but he hoped he would solve that problem rather quickly.

“Hello.” _Not a good start_, he thought. He had practiced all kinds of speeches on his way over, but damned if he couldn’t remember any of them right now.

“Is something wrong? Are Bash and Dellie alright?” Anne would never be so cross at him as to stop caring about his family, but her voice was guarded.

“They’re fine, but please, can we talk for a minute?” Gilbert glanced around at the audience of overprotective family members watching him. “Outside?”

Marilla opened her mouth as if to object, when out of the blue Matthew gently nudged Anne forward and said “it’s warm enough outside tonight.” Marilla’s eyes nearly fell out of her head, but she said nothing. Anne shared a quiet look with Matthew, steeled herself, and walked out the door onto the porch with hardly a glance in Gilbert’s direction.

She turned to him, her eyes looking so sad and scared that he ached to comfort her. Given that he was the cause of the pain, though, he was going to have to clear up a few things before he took another step forward.

“What do you want?” she said softly.

He couldn’t think of anything better, so he stuck to the facts. “Anne, I’m not courting anyone, and I haven’t courted anyone.”

The sad eyes shifted to shock, and she stared at him for a long moment. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I have a crush on you,” he said simply, thinking it safest to stick to the words that Anne herself used. Thirty seconds earlier she thought he was on a path to marry someone else, so it hardly seemed the time to go overboard.

She stood in silence, eyes on the wooden floorboards. “I don’t want to be just one of your crushes.”

He shut his eyes as he realized her misunderstanding. _I am really bad at this, _he thought. No wonder it had taken him three years and he was still managing to make a mess of things in the dark of night. _Minnie May might have had a point_, he considered ruefully.

He took one tentative step forward, and when she didn’t shrink away he slowly reached for her hand. That got her attention. “Not ‘one of.’ The only one. I have friends, even female ones, but there has only ever been one of you. I wanted you to know that.”

Her eyes began to fill with tears, and she buried her face in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. They stayed like that for a long time, neither wanting to move from the little world that consisted only of the two of them, out in the dark on an Avonlea spring night.

Eventually, he heard her yawn just a little and chuckled. “Do you need to go inside?”

“No!” She exclaimed. “I have a million things I want to talk about! We could be here for hours! I need to know what made you come here tonight! Is it a romantical tale? I haven’t even told you that I planned out at least one activity every day for the students between the end of the Queens exam and the day we leave. We’re going to hold a concert!” She suppressed another yawn.

“_My_ Anne,” he said, earning an embarrassed grin from her for his boldness, “we will have lots of time to talk about all those things. Right now, I think you need some sleep.”

She nodded. “I’ll say goodbye to Marilla and Matthew for you.” He pulled her in for another tight hug, wanting more but thinking he probably shouldn’t overdo things just now.

“Goodnight, sweet dreams,” he said softly.

“They will be,” she answered, her voice catching slightly.

He turned back down the lane, finally able to breathe properly for the first time since the day Anne started avoiding him. He heard the rushed footsteps behind him and managed to catch her about the waist just as she crashed into him and nearly tumbled to the ground. She righted herself and gave him a blazing look.

“I planned to do this at the fair,” she said, suddenly wrapping her fingers behind his neck and pulling him in for a kiss. He recovered his surprise quickly and held her close, more than happy to throw his earlier restraint overboard. Then, just as soon as she started, Anne pulled away, placed one more soft kiss on his lips, and said “sleep well,” before rushing back inside the house. He caught a glimpse of her hair, fallen loose from its ribbon somewhere along the way, flashing brightly in the candlelight as she shut the door behind her.

“I am about to be in so much trouble,” he said into the empty night.


End file.
